Christie Loyalist’s Role as FBI Source Is Bridge Trial Sideshow
- FBI sought Baroni aid on Trenton corruption from 2006 to 2010
- Baroni set to take witness stand next week in his own defense
Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, arrives at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Courthouse in Newark, New Jersey, on Sept. 23, 2016.
Of all the mysteries at the George Washington Bridge lane-closing trial, perhaps none is more tantalizing than Bill Baroni’s secret life as an FBI informant who helped root out corruption in New Jersey state government.
But jurors may not learn those details when he testifies in his own defense next week in Newark federal court. He and another former ally of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie are accused of plotting to create gridlock near the bridge in September 2013 to punish the mayor of nearby Fort Lee for not backing the re-election of the governor.